An ode to Bacon.
I love Bacon.
Truly – it is the food of the gods, and should really be classed as a food group all on its own, along with coffee and chocolate. It’s a low-carbers dream, even if we don’t actually eat a ton of it at every meal as some suggest. And bacon has had a huge resurgence in popularity over the past few years, possibly because so many low-carbers are seen guiltlessly tucking into a breakfast of it rather than trying to eat a bowlful of straw and dust covered in milk without gagging. And because less and less people are buying into the nonsense that saturated fat will kill you.
It has become so popular you can get bacon flavour toothpaste, soap, and chocolate. (really want to try that if it comes in Sugar Free!)
I have just gone 2 weeks without eating any bacon. Actually coffee too but that probably deserves a blog all of it’s own for the sheer improbability of it all.
Anyway – in celebration of the food that can turn Vegetarians into carnivores – here is the Bacon Song.
Genius !
Clearwater’s Dairy Clotted Cream
It looks like New Zealand food producers are listening to the comments from people wanted clotted cream. 7 years ago when we first came here – it was not available. Anywhere.
In fact 3 years ago when I first wrote about the issue of clotted cream with the recipe (still one of the most visited pages on this blog), it still was not available for sale anywhere.
So I was dead chuffed when Fran told me that there was now another brand available!
Clearwater Dairy – who usually make yogurts have joined Country Fayre Cafe in commercially producing and selling Clotted Cream. At 59.6% fat content – its the real deal. And at $4.95 for 175g its actually pretty well priced.(Moore Wilsons Prices)
So this one works out considerably cheaper than the country fayre option, which is currently $25 for 180g. I’m guessing the price difference is merely a matter of production scale – Clearwater being an already set-up commercial dairy operation.
Its actually softer as well – in fact actually softer than you may be used to – a bit more like Extra Thick Double cream – but with a soft golden top typical with Clotted Cream. And the taste? Devine!
I couldn’t be bothered to make scones, so I decided on Low Carb Warm Chocolate Muffins – which it turns out is actually a perfect pudding to have with a dollop of the cream.
A sign up in Moore Wilsons suggests that this can also be used in coffee – but I actually don’t recommend that. While it tastes fine – it separates and leaves a film of fat on the top. I always drink my coffee with cream instead of milk, but for that I recommend sticking with the bog-standard cream, and use the Clotted Cream with warm muffins, berries or of course scones.
Either way – Clotted Cream has made a comeback to New Zealand. Long may it continue. If your supermarket doesn’t stock this, but has other Clearwater products – ask for it. It will be worth the wait I promise.
The Gluten free and allergy show in Wellington.
We aren’t in the Wairarapa this weekend! So – trying to make the most of a weekend in the city – we went to the above show. (It’s raining). Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t need to eat a gluten free diet – I eat Lo-Carb, which is a lot harder to do in New Zealand than it really should be. Gluten Free is really quite easy here, with a huge range of products available in the supermarkets, and a showcase of products you can wander round!
The good stuff.
I’m afraid I couldn’t do many taste-tests, because basically Gluten Free still contains a lot of carbs, and more importantly sugar, however – doesn’t stop me looking!
LoveCake: Boy did I want to try the cake samples. They looked so scrummy, rich an moist. The website unfortunately doesn’t actually show the ingredients list, so do make sure you check before buying.
L’affaire au Chocolate. makes and sells dairy,wheat and gluten free chocolates – and brilliant for me, even sells a 100% chocolate bar from France (Pralus brand). At $15 for 100g it works out about the same price as a bar of SchocBlack, so I look forward to trying it out.
SweetSmart: Oh Yes! Sugar Free! And some of their range is sugar free and gluten free. They sell sweets, chocolate spreads (sweetened with Fructose so no good for low carbers), and biscuits. Best thing is they sell DeBron brand sweets which is something that you can buy in the UK but not here – and they promise me that they will be ordering some Sugar Free Marshmallows, which I haven’t seen since ordering the DeBron ones when I was back in the UK. While I rarely eat sweets to be honest, to have the option is nice, and I think this new company may be the nearest we get to the UK’s LowCarb Megastore.
A lot of their products are sweetened with a product called Tagatose, which a quick search on LowCarbFriends suggests is highly laxative – so be warned.
The Protein Bakery: Oh boy – these guys are the Gods of LowCarb Cookies, and they are a Wellington company, born and bred. Unlike a lot of LowCarb (or Gluten free) biscuits or cookies – these are soft. And they really do taste as close to the real thing as i think you are gonna get without flour and sugar. They have been available for years now, and new flavours are being developed all the time. In fact at the show, they have 4 new flavors to try and vote on, including an Almond Cookie, which as far as I’m concerned was heavenly. The cookies with chocolate chips in do have a small amount of sugar, so you need to aware of that, but the flavors without are 100% sugar free, and all are gluten free.
gftreats: Ok, so here I broke the rules a little and did a taste test of something that was Gluten Free but not lowcarb. This company sells Battered Fish, Chicken Strips, Mini Hot Dogs and Donuts, all GF. I made a sacrifice and tried everything but the mini hot dogs (cos I refuse to eat horrid battered sausage with a stick up its back end and call it a hot dog!) I have to say they were really tasty, and the company thoughtfully had a sheet available to check the ingredients, and it seemed to be to fit the bill for GF food nicely.
Now the not-so-good.
To be honest – I skipped most of the main Gluten Free stands, because basically if its bakery stuff, I know it’s no good for me, and those were the stands that were obviously most crowded. And I really dont have a huge amount of patience at shows like this where you have to fight to get to the stand itself.
So in reality, there were only 3 stands that I had a problem with:
AriaFarm sell a brand called “Make A Meal Of It” which is basically “formed” meat, frozen into strips that you can just pour out of a bag and cook. I just kinda have a problem with a show that is basically about healthy eating showcaseing a product that takes perfectly good (gluten, sugar,dairy,wheat,soy,legume,you-name-it free) natural food, processing it and selling it as something healthy cos they managed to do it without adding gluten to it! Now the Meat strips are indeed 96% meat – but – um – call me crazy – why buy “Formed” 96% meat when most supermarkets sell 100% fresh meat in ready cut strips that you can bung in the freezer.
There was also a company there selling, amongst other things, Pork Scratchings and pork Rinds. Now I forgot to make a note of the name, but a process of eliminations means it looks like it was SweetsDirect. The website is unavailable I’m afraid. So what was wrong? Well basically Pork Rinds are about as LowCarb and gluten free as you can get. They are pretty much just fat and protein naturally. And the company had signs up saying they were Gluten Free and LowCarb. Except when I read the Ingredients list, they contains Wheat Flour and Sugar, so were neither Gluten free nor LowCarb. And yet on sale at a Gluten Free show. If nothing else this says that you really must read the labels and not take the companies word!
Kitchen Queens were selling non-stick cooking products, like Magic Baking Sheets – but at stupidly high prices. They were selling a 150cm roll for $50, and 100cm for $35. Lakeland sell 100cm for £9, so if you are in the UK – grab one, or if you are in NZ shop around. Even Kirkaldie & Staines sell it cheaper. It’s brilliant stuff, and I use it all the time, but I’m not going to pay that much when I can get it cheaper.
All in all it was a very good show, and even we managed to buy some goodies, so well worth the $10 fee to get in. It’s open again tomorrow, at the TSB Arena. Only problem – no coffee stand!
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
